Rules of Magi

Note on magick: Define the rules of magic.

For example: in order to foretell the future one is actually relying either on the Spirit of God or on the spirit of the Resister (although some practitioners may indeed believe these deeds wrought of their own feeble power). There is a compromise in every such transaction, a contract entered into with real consequences for the practitioner. Explore.

• as with (the biblical) Simon the Sorcerer, show how men try to possess the Gift by reason and logic but end with a weak facsimile. You see, the Gift can be obtained by faith alone. The visceral practice of magic must be made real in this writing ! Also, the potential for addiction (some magiuse pharmacological means to enhance the power in their practice, sometimes to enhance the very experience of practicing magic).
• Hey, also remember the ranks of magi: -ai, -rai, -kai, and -anen
• Schools of magic ! Dueling ryu ! Those who preach its use for martial purposes. Those who propose its restriction to a learned aristocracy (lower classes not smart enough to be possessors of this precious gift). The naturals, of all classes, to whom the Gift comes freely and untutored.
  

Note the similarity between the numbers of those who are skilled in the practice of magick and those skilled in other arts: their ranks are few, slender in part due to the wholehearted dedication it takes to master any given craft. There are, however, many minimally skilled pretenders. Witness, in our world, the hordes of clergy and the few true Men of God. Or the vast numbers of seamen, yet so few entrusted with Captains' rank.